Collecting metrics for CORBA-based distributed systems

The Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) supports the creation of distributed systems that cross processor, language and paradigm boundaries. These systems can be large and complex entities that consume considerable resources in their creation and execution. Measurements of characteristics of software systems is an important area of study in general and of particular interest for distributed systems. The work presented in this paper describes a specific technique for instrumenting components in a distributed system. The technique constructs a wrapper around the component being measured. Interactions with the ORB and other components are monitored and summarized. Each wrapper mimics the interface of the component that it is wrapping so that the remaining objects in the system do not need modification. Two approaches to wrapping the component are presented and contrasted. The result is an efficient and modular technique that can quickly be applied to a component